


In This Everlasting Season

by thescyfychannel



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Demons, F/F, F/M, M/M, Magic, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-21
Updated: 2019-05-21
Packaged: 2020-03-09 03:07:12
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18908269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thescyfychannel/pseuds/thescyfychannel
Summary: Certain things happen to magic when parallel lines begin to cross. They're never the things that people expect, of course, or they wouldn't even try forcing the lines at all—but then, that's part of the magic too.Feferi, Sollux, Aradia, and Eridan are apprentices in line to various schools of magic. They're barely adults (definitely not adultier adults), and they're really just out here, doing their best. Getting signed up to fight a terrifying demon wasn't part of the plan, but when the wizards charged with caring for all magic say jump, you don't even ask how high...





	1. Bright, the Dawning of the Day

**Author's Note:**

  * For [liasangria](https://archiveofourown.org/users/liasangria/gifts).



> "wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwitchcraft au. they're all magic users from different traditions but are Forced To Work Together against a common enemy...uhhh a demon called Lord English. yeah."
> 
> oh _fuck_ yeah

Your master had absolutely declined to tell you what was going on before he ushered you into a room you'd never seen before. The people inside, at least, were fairly familiar. Everyone knew who the Cast Council of Magic was—even if your master was often at odds with them—and the others around the room you knew by reputation, even if you couldn't put them all to name. All of them were known, if not for their bloodlines then definitely for their skill, and well...

You'd met a couple of them, in passing, at least once or twice.

 

Eridan Ampora. He, unlike you, had elected to train with the other masters in magic in his family, and it was a decision that none could fault him for. His blood ran rich with the magic of all the elements, and destruction and creation besides. Training with another school could only end in tragedy, unless it was one heavily populated by those who were used to handling such forces.

Sollux Captor. He was as much a powerhouse as Eridan was, and the School of Balance was one of the few schools who could handle him (and probably one of the rare few that might have been able to handle Eridan). Duality and doom were his fortes, from what you'd heard along the grapevine, and he was lucky enough to gain entrance to a school that had already handled several Captor masters, and employed a few besides.

Aradia Megido. Talented, brilliant, and far more interested in exploration than any careful exercise of her magic. From what you'd heard and what else you knew, she was already talented in fine control, and once she'd gotten to that point, had shifted her focus over to the work of archaeological study and exploration, preferring to be out in the field than behind any dusty desk.

And then their masters who had followed them along: Morgan Ampora, on the Cast Council's list of potentials and head of the Ampora family himself; Rosabel Lalonde, one of the two incredibly powerful Wix of the Borders and Ways; and Jacobus Harley, an explorer who had seen far more of the world and magic than any before.

 

It was quite the gathering, and you were...well, you were trying not to feel out of place. All three of them (or six, if you're counting their mentors) seem...composed, in a way you haven't really felt in a very long time. It's nothing to do with bloodlines—the Captors, while numerous, have not yet solidified as a great house, and while the Megidos have a certain affinity for a very specific line of magic, well...it's not exactly popular in the daylight. Ampora was the only one who should really rattle you, but getting rattled by a guy you made mud pies with once upon a time wasn't really a thing, even if you hadn't seen him in, uh...getting closer to ten years than five.

It was more the _calm_  that was getting to you. After all, you could hold your head high, here in this gathering. You were a Peixes, a bloodline as good as any, and your master—

Well, your master was looking a hell of a lot more aggrieved than anyone else in the room, but he was _also_  right at your side and ready to back you up if shit went to fuck. Out of all four of you in training here, you were of the opinion that you were the best off. Morgan Ampora looked stern and proud, Rosabel Lalonde looked confusing and mysterious, and Jacobus Harley...you had a feeling that you'd be even _more_  stressed about the stupid shit your master was getting into than you already were, if you were working with him.

Behind you, Adaiki Vantas, your master since the age of seventeen, clears his throat. "So what exactly are we all doing here, then?"

"Not _all_  of us," Wix Atreya, head of the Cast Council, insists. "Master Rosabel Lalonde. Where is your apprentice's other master? Roxandra Lalonde ought to be here as well."

"Minding the borders," she replies, something of a smile in her eyes and on her lips. "It is, after all, a full time job."

Wix Atreya's color goes a few too many shades pale, and she glances between the other assembled council members. "Ah—right. Yes, of course." The job of watching boundaries and ways is respected by many and envied by very, _very_  few. You have a feeling that if Sollux Captor follows in the footsteps of his masters, he will definitely be a wix to be feared. "Then I suppose we shall commence."

 

The rest of the meeting, unfortunately for you, is a blur. There's been a prophecy, is what you know—or, what you were told, right off the bat—and it concerns the four of you. Doom is coming, and the four of you are the only ones with even a hope of putting a stop to it. Four different magic users, from four _very_  different traditions, with very little knowledge of one another—outside of the startling revelation that you're not the only one with an estranged childhood friend, congratulations to Aradia and Sollux for joining the "what the fuck" train—are apparently the only thing standing in the way of the end of the world, a demon called Lord English.

You might be a little bit in shock. You have a feeling that you're not the only one who is.

 

Adaiki pauses outside the second chamber, the one that you'd been told to go into with the other three, alone. The Cast Council wants you all to get used to working together as soon as possible, and their opinion seems to be that forced interaction is definitely the way to do this.

When you glance up at him, he wraps an arm around your shoulders. "Feferi. You don't _have_  to do this. You know that, right?"

"I mean...I kind of do. Don't I?" You wish he was right, and that you didn't, but you know better than that. He _taught_  you better than that. "That's what the whole thing is about."

His expression twists a little more rueful, and he squeezes your shoulder a little tighter than before. "Troublesome student. I knew you'd be a pain in my ass from the start."

You flash him a grin, and rattle off the line you both know very well. "And yet, you still took me on!"

"You didn't give me a _choice_ ," he says, and the familiar banter eases away some of your nerves. "Go on, then, young apprentice. Go save the world."

This time, you don't reply out loud—you can't _trust_ yourself to, not now, not yet—you nod, you step out of the protection of his embrace, and you walk into whatever your future might hold.

 

The door opens, and it's like stepping into another world.


	2. Quiet, the World Around Us All

Judging by this setup, whatever else the Council had on its mind, proper preparation for the task you were about to face was evidently at the top of it. The door isn't so much a door as it is a portal to another part of the realm: The Rellissian Valley, a place well steeped in magic and a favored training spot among the wix community, and one you had never expected to visit for yourself. You get a last glimpse of Adaiki's resignedly hopeful expression, before the portal-door slams shut behind you, and then you're left there in a forest clearing, a door standing in front of you, and a path waiting behind.

Nothing left to do but walk.

 

From your own knowledge of portals, you know that it shouldn't be visible to anyone but the four of you, your training masters, and the ones who created it. It's not a general ways and means portal, if it goes straight from the Cast Council's tower to the Valley, and while you don't know if it would be safer to be seen traveling via more normal means, you do know that it's yet another demonstration of exactly how much time and effort they're willing to expend on you.

It's not a comforting thought. The idea of being _that_  important no longer comes with the sparkle of pride and joy that it once did.

You're going to attribute that to being well out of the influence of your own awful bloodline, but you're still sort of wishing that you could go into this with all of the arrogance that you maybe used to have.

 _No. Wait._ Adaiki's voice is easy to find in your own head.  _Confidence. Do not cut your younger self down for what she did not know._

The first time it happened, you'd asked him if this was another kind of magic. He'd laughed and told you that it might be your conscience, or your common sense, or some part of you out there to remind yourself that you weren't as bad as you sometimes thought. When you asked what it meant that the voice sounded like him, he'd said you'd have to sort it out for yourself—but that it meant a lot to him that it did.

This was still earlier on in your apprenticeship, early enough that when you'd noticed him turning away to wipe at a tear, you'd assumed you were not to press. Even with your nerves frayed and all of you on edge, the memory of your assumption is enough to make you snicker—you had _very_  quickly learned that Master Vantas really _was_  just that emotional, and you'd be better off doing what you wanted and letting him cry it out later.

 

The cottage you'd be staying at comes into view, three apprentices waiting outside, and...

And you're getting _really_  tired of being contained and closed off and _attempting_  to maintain some of that level of calm they all have going on.

Okay. _Okay_. You are Feferi freaking Peixes, and you are here for a reason. If anyone has a problem with that, they can step up, and shock, shakes, portal confusion, general "what in the planet's name"ness can go fucking _deal_.

Okay.

Eridan's been wearing some kind of weird expression since the first moment he saw you. Aradia looks delightedly inscrutable and has since everything first kicked off. Sollux...well, Sollux looks really fucking grumpy, but you're pretty sure it's some kind of front.

Maybe. You hope.

"Fef, uh—Feferi," Eridan says, and the wild expression that you remember showing up whenever he panics is just a little too familiar. "Apprentice Peixes?"

"Yeah that's going to get old really fast," Sollux mutters, and Aradia elbows him in the side. " _Ow_  fuck, AA, I'm not even wrong!"

You barely resist the urge to sigh. "How about we go by first name and whatever nicknames happen naturally over the course of...whatever the hell this is?"

"Right, sure, yeah." At least it's eased some of the tension out of your former friend. Sollux still looks ambivalent, and Aradia seems to be thoroughly amused by all of the byplay between the four of you. "So—uh, we checked the house, but if you'd like to—"

"I trust you guys," you say. Once upon a time, you definitely would've been wondering if it meant they thought your magic wasn't up to checking a house's wards. Now, you're assuming they're impatient wix who want to get to the next point in this ridiculously weird assignment. "Come on."

If the Council wants you to team build, then dammit, you're going to team build. Nothing says trust like being the first person to put your hand on a doorknob after three different wix have been casting stars know what spells without you present. From the wide-eyed expressions, you know they know it, and you lead the way into the little cottage, face forward and chin held high.

 

It's _much_  bigger on the inside.

 

A kitchen, a hearth, a cozy little living space make up the center of the cottage. The walls are mostly bare, but someone's laid out the stone floor with enough rugs to keep the space warm, and in addition to the entrance just behind you four, the walls are lined with several other doors. Rooms, bathrooms, storage, you're assuming, and probably workrooms and pantries besides. There are two doors to a wall, on the back three walls, and a spiral staircase leading up into a second floor you hadn't thought would exist.

On the kitchen table—you're assuming it'll be used for eating, too, and make a mental note to remind _everyone_  to keep their potions and spells off of it—there's a pack of paper that separates itself into five stacks as soon as the door clicks shut.

"Well, then," you say to your new workmates. "I guess that's where we start!"


End file.
